Boys Night
by mayzee
Summary: Tag to 1.05 The Alamo. Wyatt and Rufus share a beer after the mission.


**A/N: So, this is my first attempt to write for a fandom that isn't The Mentalist. I'm not going to lie, it's a little scary. So, I've started off very small with a short oneshot tag to** _ **The Alamo**_ **episode. It's low key and quite light-hearted but I hope you like it. You have to start somewhere, I told myself!**

 **And for any of you Mentalist fans who read my fanfics and clicked on this accidentally please don't fret too much, I'm not giving up on that wonderful fandom or those amazing characters at all, I just fancied a change. And this show is the only show that has caught my heart in any shape or form since TM ended. But I'll be back to updating my multichapters and have a couple of oneshots in the works for you very soon, too.**

 **But without further ado, here's my very first Timeless tag. I'd love to hear your thoughts and if you'd like more of this kind of thing from me. Thanks for reading.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Timeless or any of its characters, I'm just taking them for a gentle stroll through my imagination.**

* * *

Boys' Night

Wyatt's eyes darted around the large room, looking for Rufus behind one of the many computer monitors. He spied him hovering around Jiya's desk, his customary position at the end of a mission. Or at any time, really.

"Hey," he said to the dark skinned man. He suddenly felt awkward, like he was asking someone out on a first date. "Wanna grab a beer tonight?"

Rufus' eyes narrowed at him. "Thought you left already."

"Eh," he shrugged, "figured I owed you one after putting yourself on the line like that earlier." He made a point of looking around again although he'd already searched for Lucy and knew she must have left while he'd been getting changed. "Lucy, too, is she around?" he asked nonchalantly without directly looking into Rufus' eyes.

"She went home already," the other man replied, a hint of a knowing smile on his lips.

"Oh," Wyatt said, nodding. "Boys' night then?" He glanced at Jiya. "Unless you want to come too, you're more than welcome."

The dark haired woman barely glanced up from her screen. "Not tonight, Mason's got me working late." She smiled at the two men, her eyes lingering on Rufus a little longer. "Another time," she said with another smile.

Rufus rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh...yeah...yeah...I mean yes...definitely. Definitely," he stammered.

Wyatt muttered under his breath, "Smooth," earning him a glare from the other man.

"Let's go," Rufus said authoritatively, clearing his throat.

* * *

"Cheers," Wyatt said, clinking beer bottles with his drinking companion for the evening. They'd settled in barstools at a quiet bar he came to sometimes. When he wasn't assigned to a mission, he spent more time here than he should, if he was being honest. Home didn't feel like home anymore. Not since Jessica. A pang of guilt overwhelmed him momentarily and he took a large slug of beer to push it back down, his normal panacea of choice at times like this.

"Cheers," Rufus said, swinging round on his barstool to look around. "So, what's up?" he said, turning back round.

Wyatt shrugged. "Nothing. Just felt like a beer. And some company."

Rufus nodded. "Yeah. Hard to get back to normality again, isn't it, after one of these missions? And I definitely needed a drink tonight after today." He sighed loudly and swallowed a mouthful of beer.

"Yeah, it was a rough one."

"All those men..." Rufus shook his head solemnly. Then he chuckled lightly. "But I had a drink with Davy Crockett today. How crazy is that?"

"Pretty crazy," Wyatt admitted with a smile. "You ever feel like telling people?"

Rufus looked at him sideways. "They'd think I'm crazy if I did. You?"

"No." His smile faltered. There was no one left to tell anything to, anyway.

"Does it get easier? Seeing all that...death when you're in a war?"

Wyatt's lips paused at the rim of the beer bottle for a moment before he took a gulp. "Yeah, it does."

Rufus puffed out a breath. Sarcastically, "Great, can't wait to get used to that, then."

"Hopefully you won't have to and I'll kill Flynn before we're in another firefight."

Rufus clinked his bottle against Wyatt's as it set on the bar counter. "Cheers to that."

"So, you and Jiya, huh?" Wyatt said, turning to him with a smirk.

"No," Rufus said immediately. Wyatt raised an amused eyebrow. The other man's shoulder's dropped. "Well...I asked her out but...something came up, timing hasn't been right yet to reschedule."

"You mean you chickened out."

"Yeah, well, we've been kinda busy lately," Rufus said with a glower.

Wyatt held his hands up. "Hey, don't wait too long is all I'm saying," he laughed. He added, softer, "You never know how long you'll have, believe me."

They went back to drinking their beers again silently, the amber liquid pooling pleasantly in Wyatt's stomach, easing his pain. He ordered them another round.

"Wonder how Lucy is," Rufus said, looking at Wyatt out of the corner of his eye.

Wyatt stopped peeling off the label from his beer bottle and blinked. "I'm sure she's fine."

"You think? You don't think this must be harder for her than it us for us?"

Wyatt frowned and turned in his seat, nodded for him to continue.

"Well, look at us. Nothing in our lives has changed since we started this. We go on these..." He looked around, whispered quietly, "missions and then go back to our normal lives until the next one. The very first one her whole life got turned upside down."

"Yeah...yeah, when you put it like that..." Making her sister reappear in her life again was her primary objective for carrying on, he understood that. And perhaps if that could happen somehow then Jess...

Rufus continued, "She's probably wondering what the hell else is going to have changed every time she comes back."

"Hmm, maybe," Wyatt agreed.

"Did you notice she took her engagement ring off?"

"Did she?" he shrugged. Of course he'd noticed. He took a swig of beer to stop asking himself why he felt better when she had. "Suppose she needs to figure more things out than we do when we come back. No wonder she's so jumpy all the time."

Rufus chuckled. "I think that's just Lucy."

Wyatt smiled. "Yeah, probably you're right." He troubled his bottom lip a second later. "Why do you suppose she went out on a limb for me earlier? Why did you, come to that?"

Rufus shrugged. "Like she said, she trusts you. We're a team. So do I. Means a lot when we're out there on our own. No one understands what we're seeing but us. It's still like reading history books to everyone else back at Mason Industries. We're the only ones who see it all - the past as it was...and the past as it is after. Besides, it was time I stood up for myself with Mason, too."

Wyatt frowned upon hearing a bite to his words, "You don't get along with Mason?"

He stammered, "No. No, it's just...It's a complicated relationship, that's all."

"Well, like you said, we're a team, if you ever need to talk about it-"

Immediately, "Thanks. I'm good." He paused, smiled. "But thanks."

They drank their remaining beers and ordered a couple more. They talked about sports and Rufus about computers, discussed engineering, music, films. As they walked outside Wyatt nodded to the other man as they parted ways. "We should do this again," he said. "Been good."

He was surprised to find how much he meant it. It was good being part of a team again, having someone to talk to about nothing just to help unwind. Rufus wasn't a trained soldier but he was as much a part of his unit as the men under his command had been. As was Lucy. He'd kill Flynn and protect them both in the process. He was more determined than ever.

He smiled as Rufus waved back at him, swaying a little as the night air hit him as he strolled in the other direction.

And next time he decided he needed some company, perhaps he'd invite Lucy along too. He admitted to himself that he'd missed her cheery presence this evening, their increasingly tight band of three cut down to a twosome.

As that thought ran through his head another one occurred to him.

Perhaps Wyatt couldn't ever change the past, but the present was looking ever so slightly hopeful once again.

\- THE END -


End file.
